


Polarity

by Faemonic



Category: Otherfaith Religion & Lore
Genre: Multi, Podfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-20
Updated: 2015-09-08
Packaged: 2018-04-10 07:46:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4383317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faemonic/pseuds/Faemonic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Should probs be categorized as crack!fic: The Dierne has invented a tabletop roleplaying game. The Clarene has a plot to set in the North-South. The Laetha has pizza. The Ophelia brought the drinks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

Pallis wandered the human world and found two human children playing some version of “the floor is lava” in a playground. By their rules, one child couldn’t be tagged as long as that child remained elevated and out of reach like a star, while the other acted like waves of lava around the playhouse. One short side of the rectangular playhouse opened to a slide, the other short side to the monkey bars, the third to steps, the fourth closed off. The lava-child counted down from ten, as the star-child wasn’t moving from the center, “and just walking around the same spot is against the rules,” and the lava-child ascended the steps of the entrance and crowded it so it should have been impossible to pass. 

The star-child bolted for the slide, causing the lava-child to shriek and scurry down the stairs and over to the bottom of the slide, then hurry back when the star-child backed up towards the monkey bars. The lava-child counted down from five because “the monkey bars are still part of the playhouse” even though there wasn’t another elevated area for several yards around. The lava-child jumped up to tap the star-child’s foot as the star-child’s body dangled from the bars, and announced that a win. The star-child groaned in defeat and dropped down. By their rules, the star-child became the new lava-child and the previous lava-child to become a star-child.

“New rules,” said the new star-child. “No counting down. Every step is a new safety spot. And both my feet should be on the ground, for more than ten seconds, for you to catch me and make me ‘it’ again. Oh, and you’re not allowed to climb the stairs. That’s not part of the volcano this time.”

The new lava-child slouched forward, deflating with discouragement, but didn’t have the imagination to say that this was unfair and not at any fun at all. Pallis wished that he could find more fear in the new star-child that inspired such unfair terms, or something else in the new lava-child that could become a virtue, but there was none.

He was interested in the threads that wove between them, that pulsed with push and pull. The bonds between the tellers, the thought, the word, the imagination made a permeable rind around the playground and through a tesseracted sphere of the playground. He recognized this as the same stuff that had been missing between the human world and The West, not exactly the same, but close enough to give hope to Fear*.

*

He sought other samples, and found it made into matter with video game consoles and lucid dreams vivid enough to make thought into matter (at least, within the rind). He found wreaths of it that braided and dissipated as a scientist tried to explain to a layperson why a scientific theory is more consistent than a scientific fact, let alone a layperson’s conjecture that they called a theory. He found it radiating from a ballerina, painting romance into the eyes of a dance partner she hated, hatred that the audience must not be allowed to see; and then, backstage, when she told her family that it was fun to be a star but she knew it couldn’t be her life. Dancers had such short careers, from a business standpoint ballet shouldn’t exist, and she had always wanted to be in advertising agencies like all of them. She might have told them a story, she might have told them—and herself—a lie. Some part of almost everybody knew it, and they all played along.

He found it in a dungeon that contained three people, all of whom were free to leave at a word, and certainly had the imagination to do so, so it wasn’t a real dungeon.

Finally, he saw it in himself. Pallis wasn’t a creator, not like the Father Goddess of the West, but he could bridge the sundering with everything he’d learned. More than a bridge? It wouldn’t be a rind like a citrus, or the water tension of a dew-drop, but a chrysalis.

He could, he thought he could, he did not. Those within the broken, empty shell of The West found a way to bridge the Sundering first. And then there had come the downfall of an evil overlord, and the changing of names, and wars, and therapists. All the therapists.

One day after all that, King Clarene and Pallis encountered each other at the library. It was a surprise for both of them, as neither often went to the library, and had thought the other an equally rare visitor. 

“What are you doing?” The Clarene asked, but the meaning beneath the words was closer to: Why aren’t you dancing at the clubs in the City? Leave this place alone and don’t annoy me with your presence.

When The Dierne heard the words of The Clarene, however, he took the meaning as that of enquiry rather than strong suggestion let alone instruction. He answered, “I got _Polarity_ published at the vanity press next to the library, but the Bookkeepers won’t stock it here because it’s not something you read silently between the aisles. Do you know anybody who’s interested in joining a gaming group?”


	2. The First Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another way the Clarene and Dierne might have syncretized (not really). Another way the Ophelia and the Laetha might have reconciled (probably not.) The perilous rolls of multi-sided dice. Systemic misandry isn't a thing, Aster.

Once she had read through the guidebooks for _Polarity_ , The Clarene thought up of a story that she wanted to tell. King Clarene became Game Master Clarene, and the Dierne was content to see how the first game would unfold.

Asier Laetha made several pizzas in the Kitchen and delivered them when he came to the door of the Dierne’s apartment. The Dierne sampled a bit of each flavour, his mouth too webbed with cheese to properly greet the Ophelia when she came by with several liter bottles of different soft drinks, but he hoped it showed his appreciation when he opened one bottle and gulped it down to cool and clear the webbing. 

The Ophelia pursed her lips ever so slightly at the Laetha’s contribution, as the Laetha apologized for letting the Dierne eat ahead of everybody, and offered up a slice of a hundred different cheeses and human sausage. The Dierne, who had been raised by the Ophelia, sensed the silent scream of revulsion but was helpless to stop Asier, for the fizzy parts of the drink was causing The Dierne’s tear ducts to burp. 

The Clarene rescued them all unknowingly by setting a large bowl of salad on the table, and welcoming The Ophelia with a kiss. 

The first point of order was for The Ophelia and Laetha to make their character sheets. This would enter a part of their consciousness, so the Dierne said, into a miniature world made out of their imaginations caught and stilled in the structure of the game. In the game of _Polarity_ , a good beginner’s setting would be the North-South. 

To the Dierne’s dismay, The Clarene had already filled out their sheets. He thought that defeated the purpose of having other players in a tabletop roleplaying game, and might as well sit alone in a cabin by the lake and write novels. Still, the Ophelia was pleased with Neve Winter, who was too much like Ophelia herself for the Dierne to consider the point in roleplaying at all. 

The Laetha had fallen into a bit of a grump, having been given a laconic giant named Darren, the bodyguard to Neve Winter. The Clarene ruffled her son’s hair, passed the character sheet to The Dierne, and let the Laetha create his own character—which was too much like Asier himself for the Dierne to consider the point in roleplaying at all. 

At that point, one of the Sentries knocked on the door of the Dierne’s apartment and called for the Clarene. When the Clarene heard what the emergency was, she excused herself and left it up to the Dierne to warm up the “group” (the duo, really) with a sidequest.

*

The Dierne couldn’t think of a sidequest, as he read through the Clarene’s plot points and saw how this plague or that invasion in the North-South would be too large an event to cover in one session. 

So, he conducted a small story of chivalrous romance and filial piety, just so that his players could get a better feel for their characters. Neve was not completely the Ophelia, the Dierne soon realized. Playing Neve allowed the Ophelia to be more expressive and relaxed. The effect of the persona of Aster on Asier was yet to be seen. It was all kept safe in world bound by a rind, after all. 

But, sensing the Laetha’s boredom, the Dierne flipped through the pages left by the Clarene and found notes written at the back of Darren’s character sheet. “That’s a very interesting feature that I should have introduced earlier,” the Dierne said. “Darren’s soul has the potential to be forged into a legendary weapon named Casimir.”

The Laetha leaned forward, alert. “That’s Aster Aira’s motivation now,” he said, “He has three ranks in Soul Fire Magery, he can release Casimir and take the throne from Neve.”

“Good luck with that. Casimir is my bodyguard.” The Ophelia said, amused. By ‘my’ of course she meant ‘Neve’s’ and they had been mixing up the names of non-playing characters for the past forty-five minutes. 

The Dierne turned to the relevant chapter in his book. “You need four ranks in Soul Fire Magery.”

“Even after all those turns and scenes that I wasted practicing magic?” The Laetha argued. “There’s a Soul Fire Weapon Forging lamen scratched onto Aster’s bedroom floor right now. With dribbly candles at the corners of the circle!”

The Dierne cajoled, “There are no dribbly candles, then?”

“There are _infinite_ dribbly candles,” Laetha retorted, primly. 

The Ophelia said, “Then I…I mean, Neve goes to investigate where the infinite fire in her palace is coming from.” 

“Aster Aira’s room, of course,” The Dierne replied. “There has apparently been an infinite fire for an infinite time that everybody has only just noticed now.”

“Well then! Neve goes back to sleep!” The Ophelia laughed. 

“In the meantime,” Laetha said, “Aster Aira goes over to lure Casimir into his bedroom…”

“You meet Neve on her way back to her bedroom from yours,” the Ophelia said.

The Dierne gulps down another soda. “Excuse me, mother, I’m both acting Game Master and assistant Game Master, I’ll say what happens—!” 

“No, no,” Laetha said, “I didn’t mean to say ‘meanwhile’ I meant to say after Neve has gone to sleep.”

The Ophelia nodded. “I have Casimir sing me a lullaby.”

“Right,” Laetha agreed, rubbing his hands together conspiratorially.

“So,” The Dierne clarified, “A sleeping Neve Winter is less than a few steps away from both you and Casimir, as y—as Aster plots against her.”

“Yes,” the players answered together, and Ophelia raised her eyebrow in a challenge as the Laetha lifted his chin in a challenging answer. 

The Laetha added, “I have a bonus dice pool for Seduction.”

The Ophelia objected, “But Casimir has a bonus dice pool for sensing ulterior motives.”

“You’re asleep!” The Dierne said, firmly, and then repeated the Ophelia’s objection to the Laetha. “So, we roll against each other.”

“Oh, oh, I want to roll the dice for Casimir,” The Ophelia said. “But doesn’t Neve wake up when Casimir stops singing?”

The Dierne pondered a moment, then decided, “That’s not how lullabys work—but, sure, you can roll for Darren’s sense of motive. I can’t balance all these books and papers. Would you both try to remember that the object that you are both trying to get from this person is not the same as the person?”

They rolled against each other, the Laetha’s dice falling in medial favor to him but the Ophelia’s dice falling so misfortunately that the Dierne announced the Darren had been so completely taken in by Aster that he entered the bedroom of infinite flames and performed the Soul Weapon ritual himself—no ranks needed. 

At that, even the Laetha laughed. “I didn’t tell him anything about the ritual, I only told him to come to my bedroom.”

“Oh, no!” The Dierne exclaimed, feeling foolish. “Then strike that from the record. What happens is—”

“Exactly that,” The Ophelia interrupted. “Let’s see how well Neve can take care of herself.”

And, then there was a battle. Asier had planned for it to be an assassination, but when he shouted, "Sneak attack!!!" after saying that he barged into Neve Winter's room, the Dierne decided that Aster Aira would do the same. On Neve’s behalf, the Ophelia fought with a strategic and intuitive understanding of the system. Laetha was more creative, and argued with the Dierne at every turn at what would be possible to do. When they reached an impasse, they used their respective characters’ gifts: Neve to freeze time, Aster Aira to resurrect himself like a phoenix. 

So it went that the Prince Regent Aster kept the time-frozen statue of Neve Winter out in the courtyard and reigned over the North-South until he was old and grey as snow, and until the goddess of Time took him as She could never the princess Winter, for he had used his one spare life already.

*

When the Clarene returned, and deciphered what had happened, she put her palm to her face and grumbled that she had left it alone for only one afternoon. What sort of sidequest kills two out of three main playing characters?

“But Aster Aira was a revolutionary,” Laetha pointed out. “Or wanted to be. He was reclaiming his rightful place on the throne as firstborn.”

The Dierne coughed. “Systemic misandry isn’t a thing, dear.”

“Not in the human world,” Laetha said, “But what about the North-South? Anyway, I made another character who’s a time magus, maybe she can free Neve from the statue status after Aster Aira passes away and leaves a democracy in the North-South.”

“I’d like that,” The Ophelia reflected, as she nibbled on a piece of fruit pizza with cream cheese and a thin biscuit crust.

“No, no, no,” The Clarene declared. “We can’t have an adventuring party that’s all in the same sphere of expertise, ice and water and time. It’s not balanced! We’re going back to young and ambitious Aster, and Neve still being alive, and Casimir’s death never happened.”

“I want to play Casimir this time,” Laetha said, only a beat ahead of the Ophelia saying, “Can I play a Soul Fire Mage? I feel up for a change this time.” 

“So you all like the game design so far," The Dierne asked.

“Interesting fun,” The Ophelia replied.

“Oh, I don't know...I’d like to have a go someday,” The Clarene remarked, and the Dierne beamed more like an unbruised moon than a star.

Laetha hopped to his feet. “I think it’s great! Can I invite Alethia 059 and Alice 60 over? I made too much pizza.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was strange. For those unfamiliar with Dungeons & Dragons, Exalted, World of Darkness, or Scion...a pen(cil) and paper roleplaying game, or a tabletop roleplaying game, is play pretend that involves sitting around a table and talking about what they imagine doing within the imagined world. The story planner (Game Master) describes the scenes, and players refer to to character profile templates for what they own or what they can do. Some turns in the story are determined by the role of a die, not only six-sided ones but four-sided dice (that are more painful than Lego bricks to accidentally step on) up to twenty-sided dice. Players dictate if and how the characters make individual decisions within the setting and plot of the Game Master. 
> 
> Varieties of roleplaying games can involve nothing but making text posts in character (often without plot or structure beyond agreeing to regularly show up in some sort of digital costume and act like the character); actual costumes (also called LARPing, with less structure and usually in a convention environment it's Cosplay). Gaming consoles and/or communities with full computer graphic imagery and programming, and with or without a set plot, is probably the better-known pastime by now (console RPGs and MMORPGs.)
> 
> The original version of the Verzsou Triad can be heard in the next chapter.


	3. The Verzsou Triad v.1 (Audio)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The original version of the myth in podfic form. Reading from http://otherfaith.wikia.com/wiki/Verzsou_Triad


End file.
